Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Night Moisturizer Review

Neutrogena is a staple in many American households for a good reason: it often produces a quality product at a great price point. The Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Night Moisturizer retails for about $20 at all locations and can often be purchased with a coupon, bringing it’s total cost down on average by $2.

DISLAIMER:

I’d like to point out that Neutrogena is a branch of parent company Johnson and Johnson. Johnson and Johnson does do animal testing. Neutrogena as a brand, however, does not conduct animal testing with it’s products. If you buy this product, obviously a portion of your money counts for the parent company either as profit or $$$ in their overall portfolio. I know Johnson and Johnson is trying to get rid of animal testing altogether. Most companies that are under the umbrella of a large corporation have to do animal testing to sell in China. This requirement is supposed to be lifted sometime in 2014 by the Chinese government. I will also point out that many brands you may not think are owned by large corporations are in fact owned by such entities. Unfortunately, there are only a few major corporations running the world of products we buy. Whether you like it or not, you may be supporting these big guys without even knowing it. On the whole, I try to purchase from companies not affiliated with these titans of industry. With the personal care industry or cleaning products this is actually hard. Even when you shop at natural markets or places like Whole Foods, those indie brands may not be so indie. I just wanted to make this fact very clear for people who might be questioning the ethics of “Corporate America” or the people who use their products. With this mini-disclaimer out of the way, lets get on to the product.

Visibly fade the look of stubborn wrinkles with our fastest Retinol formula available! So effective, 100% of women tested had noticeable results in just one week.

Featuring its unique combination of Retinol SA, Glucose Complex, and Hyaluronic Acid, Rapid Wrinkle Repair® Night Moisturizer moisturizes and renews the look of skin throughout the day, and helps to smooth wrinkles fast and diminish the look of age spots. Skin is left feeling smooth and looking younger.

Accelerated Retinol SA

Fades the look of stubborn wrinkles

Brightens skin tone

Smooth fine lines & texture

The box/packaging for this product is minimal and only enough to really protect the bottle from getting damaged in the store which I like because it’s not wasteful. The bottle itself is very sturdy and the pump works excellently. The pump is able to close by turning it, making it excellent for travel. It’s opaque which means no issues with light decreasing the effectiveness of the product inside. I’ve never had an issue with either the outer packaging or the bottle. I’ve dropped the bottle a few times onto a hard tile floor pump-side down and it didn’t break. It barely even squirted any product out. It gets excellent marks all around for hygienic and effective packaging.

Here is a shot of the product itself. This is one pump worth. If my face is very dry, it requires a pump and a half for my face and neck. If my face is wet from washing, one pump does the trick. The texture of the Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Night Moisturizer is a hybrid between a lotion and a gel. It sinks in quickly, only remaining tacky on the skin for a minute or so before it’s fully absorbed.

Before we go any further, I need to tell you about my skin so you can get idea of what I’m up against. I have sensitive skin with mild rosacea. In my t-zone, I’m prone to slight oiliness while my cheeks are desert dry. I’m no longer suffering from acne except the occasional hormonal or stress based flair up. I do get clogged pores easily and have what I consider large pores on my nose, cheeks, and a few places on my chin. I had wicked acne from childhood all the way up until my late 20’s that was from health conditions that are more-or-less managed now. From that acne, I have a lot of purple scarring, shallow icepick scars in a few places, and general uneven texture. My skin was prone to dullness/flakes before I began this treatment. I was starting to have small lines in my nasal labial fold area that didn’t go away after smiling. I also had one long expression line in my forehead with another one starting right below it. These lines were not deep but fairly characteristic of someone in their mid thirties to forties. I also suffered from dehydration lines on my cheeks that were very fine but made applying makeup a pain in the a$$. I had one or two minor freckles/sunspots on my cheeks before this treatment as I burn very easily. Despite all this, I looked pretty young for my age of 35. Most people were assuming I was in my mid twenties. I think it’s the full cheeks and lack of lines of any sort around my eyes that give that youthful impression.

I wish I had a before and after picture for you but I started using this before I started blogging. I have continued to use it on and off for one year, starting when I was 34. I’d like to show you my initial MakeupAlley review:

“I’d like to buy this in bulk so I can use it everywhere! This works wonderfully for me. I am 34 and due to stress/dehydration/age my skin was looking dull. I was using my Clairsonic 3 days a week for exfoliation but it wasn’t doing the trick. I have very sensitive clog-prone skin. I did experience some minor purging but my skin was fairly clear with only really clogged pores when I started. If I use this nightly along with the Clairsonic 3x a week, my pores stay pretty clear. My face is brighter, much more smooth, less red, less dehydrated looking, and I’d say younger looking by at least 5 yrs. I looked young before but now I look like I have the skin of a teen model you would see in a beauty ad for a wrinkle cream :). Of course, I still have previous acne scars and some uneven texture. This is helping with that too. The small crease in my forehead from expressions is gone and the very mild aging/line in the nasal labial area are history. I had this very small sun spot on the top of my cheekbone and it’s now gone as well. It just flaked off one day after 3 weeks of use. I’ve been using this for one month and I saw results on day one and it’s only gotten better over time. I did forget to use for three days and my skin started to look dull again. I’m using several other products that appear to work synergistically: Trilogy Rosehip oil 3 times a week after exfoliation, Avalon Organcis C toner 3x a week, and this product nightly. I use Weleda Sea Buckthorn with the Clairsonic 3x a week. I only wash with water on my off days unless I wear makeup.”

As you can see I loved it last year and I’m still fairly enamored with it now. I did take a detour to another product in the same line for a few months which had it’s pro’s and con’s too. So after my initial review and now having used it again for a while, I can safely say a few good things about this product. None of my wrinkles have come back. The expression line on my forehead never completely went away last time but it’s almost unnoticeable even close up. The little baby one is completely obliterated, however. The nasal labial folds are still looking good. My pores are clear and appear smaller by about 25%. My skin texture is greatly improved. You can still see some scarring up close, but from far away (3ft) my skin looks pretty flawless. Redness is still down and the product has not irritated me in the slightest. I’m still red, don’t get me wrong, but only prescriptions, laser, and copious sunscreen is going to completely fix that. Dullness and flakiness are gone though they do return after about a week if I’m not keeping up with another type of exfoliation at least once a week. I’m not using those other products any longer, so I can say with this as my main product it’s still producing results that are very impressive. I still use my Clairsonic, but only 2x a week with the delicate brush-head. My makeup looks great when I use it and I can finally use Nars Sheer Glow without looking like my face is a cracked and baked salt flat. My skin without makeup is fairly glowy (not Nicole Kidman Plasti-Shine™) but like Ginnifer Goodwin glow. I can easily go without makeup and feel confident in daily tasks like grocery shopping or running to the post office. I still agree this makes me look five years younger than I looked before I used it (maybe even ten years younger, no lie). My skin also feels great; supple, plump, smooth, and moisturized. I’ve also used it before makeup for evening wear and it performs very well, almost adding a primer effect. I find one bottle lasts 3-4 months so it’s also fairly economical. There are also hundreds of positive reviews on MakeupAlley and those that belong to that site are pretty discerning on skincare. There are a few cons to this product:

Fragrance! If you are sensitive try to get a sample or buy from a place with a good return policy.

You will be very sun sensitive!

This is not really for day time because of the retinol in it so you still need a separate day cream if you will be out in the sun or in a sunny room!

As we discussed earlier the purchase of this product may support animal testing.

Nothing in this is naturally derived, so if you are opposed to man-made ingredients you need to skip this one.

In conclusion, I think this product lives up to the majority of it’s claims. Obviously, with a skin care product your mileage may vary. For me personally, it just works. I wish it was more natural! I am not really the target market for this product which is over 40 but if you have any of the same conditions I do, it’s worth a shot. I’d give this product 4.5 stars out of 5. Have you tried Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Night Moisturizer? Want to tell us about it? Please comment on your experiences, good or bad!

Comments

I actually do use this product, although not religiously, but it’s at my bedside for nights when I remember to slather it on before shut eye. Otherwise my go-to is Dr. Jart’s gel. I echo everything you say. It stacks neatly against similar product that are twice it’s price.

For my two cents I’ll add this: towards the end of a bottle I’ve had problems getting it out and a considerable amount of product is left inside. They also make a day time version with SPF. I haven’t tried that yet.

I like this product a lot. I’m currently not really in a position to have access to a lot of stuff where I’m living but this is something I can count on. I’m not sure how I feel about retinol in a day product though. It’s supposedly bad juju 🙂

Hi, Erin!!
Into The Gloss brought me here. I usually see you there on the comments’ section so I decided to ckeck up your blog and I liked it. Your reviews are accurate, detailed and personal. Keep up the good work, girl!!